Health Inequalities
A pressing policy problem in the United States and other countries is the extraordinary pattern of inequality in the health of children and adults. These health disparities are widespread and not easily explained. Faculty in IPR’s Cells to Society (C2S): The Center on Health Inequalities are forging new paths to create better understanding of, and improvement in, human health and social outcomes. They recognize that such an effort requires complex modeling of the interplay between biological processes and environmental influences. To this end, they coalesce around the Center’s mission to:
- bring together the social, life, and biomedical sciences to understand the origins, consequences, and policy solutions for contemporary health inequalities in the United States; and
- examine how broad social, race/ethnic, and economic disparities "get under the skin" and affect human development and physical health.
A Message from Thomas McDade, Program Chair and C2S Director
The Center on Health Inequalities continues to expand its scope of activities to understand how social, economic, and cultural contexts affect physical and mental health, as well as cognitive achievement, at the population level. Faculty research overlaps with other IPR program areas including Education and Human Development and Race, Policy, and Inequality.
Working Papers
Recently published articles and working papers in this program area include:
Lorenzo Franchi, Vladimir Atanasov, Mark Stake, Garrett Bates, Kristen Osinski, John Meurer, and Bernard Black . 2024. The Disappearing COVID-Naïve Population and Comparative Roche vs. Abbott Test Sensitivity: Evidence from Antibody Seroprevalence in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin (WP-24-32).
Adriana Lleras-Muney, Hannes Schwandt, and Laura Wherry. 2024. Poverty and Health (WP-24-26).
Adriana Corredor-Waldron, Janet Currie, and Molly Schnell. 2024. Drivers of Racial Differences in C-Sections (WP-24-24).
Faculty Experts
Faculty come from the fields of anthropology, sociology, psychology, biomedical sciences, pediatrics, and preventive medicine, in addition to other social science and medical fields.
News
Improving Neighborhoods to Improve Lives
Neighborhoods are more than just physical spaces—they are communities shaped by people, institutions, and the connections that bind them together. These relationships, along with access to both internal and external resources, define these communities and shape the lives and wellbeing of their residents. At an October 9 research briefing on Capitol Hill, sociologist Andrew Papachristos, director of the Institute for Policy Research (IPR), highlighted the persistent disparities in communities’ resources and opportunities.
Events
There are no upcoming events at this time.